HDTV, Digital TV and antenna discussion thread [consolidated]

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sunsetbay

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Currently, my TV is plugged to the SCV TV point via an aerial coaxial cable with RF connector. But I'm not subscribed to any StarHub TV or SingTel mioTV. So can only receive those free-to-air (FTA) MediaCorp's channels (5, 8, U, CNA).

In this case, the signals for the MediaCorp's channels (5, 8, U, CNA) are coming from StarHub or the HDB antenna? The signals are analog and of standard definition (SD) only I suppose?

Channel 8, U and Okto are OK with clear image. However, for Channel 5 and CNA, my TV has noticeable horizontal bandings: alternate thick lines 1 or 2 inches thick of different brightness. A repeated pattern of a brighter line, followed by another darker line stripe. Anyone experiencing this? Tried playing with the TV settings but nothing helped. Poor reception, weak signal, caused by coaxial splitter or TV problem?

Years ago in the 90s, I thought HDB forced everyone to migrate to SCV TV point, and the antennas were deactivated or no longer usable. Is this correct?

Somehow my connection is able to receive the Malaysian RTM1 channel, but very noisy and barely watchable. But some people reported that the SCV TV point should not be able to receive RTM1. :s11:

SCV point can recv TV1 also but not TV2~ to confirm, if u can tune to 743.25Mhz, u are connected to starhub~

starhubtestpattern.jpg


bad reception could due to the type of RF cable or splitter u using~ recommended cable is Belden 1530A RG6, for splitter use starhub or regal 5-1000Mhz type~ :s22:
 

gohlex

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Hi Guys,

For my flat, i notice there is two point for each room written as TV & FM. when i connect the antenna cable to TV point, i can tune into FTA channel provided by starhub. but when i connect to FM point, there are some channels found (2-3 channels) but all blurry and not watchable.

is the FM point is actually the MATV rooftop antenna? coz i would like to watch HD5 channel and stuck with TV (starhub) point guess I've no luck other than MATV or Indoor antenna?

PS: staying in HDB, sengkang area

Thanks
 

sunsetbay

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Hi Guys,

For my flat, i notice there is two point for each room written as TV & FM. when i connect the antenna cable to TV point, i can tune into FTA channel provided by starhub. but when i connect to FM point, there are some channels found (2-3 channels) but all blurry and not watchable.

is the FM point is actually the MATV rooftop antenna? coz i would like to watch HD5 channel and stuck with TV (starhub) point guess I've no luck other than MATV or Indoor antenna?

PS: staying in HDB, sengkang area

Thanks

if u open up the tv point, u will find the TV & FM come from the same cable with a splitter to filter the frequency~ FM is for radio, if your have an AV receiver, you can utilise the FM socket~ :s22:
 

gohlex

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ic, thanks sunsetbay for the explaination. so i guess there is no way i can watch HD5 for free other than indoor antenna?
 

mrsun18

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Hi, thanks for the info.

If I get a VHF/UHF mixer, I will still not be able to get channels like okto and channel U which are in the UHF range right?
jayz_sg

Need to have a better picture of what you have now for your tv signal feed before we can talk about the mixer. Are you in one of the following situations?

a) landed property with own set of tv antennae?
b) private condo with only scv outlets or both scv and matv (master tv system with roof top antennae). If you have both, where do you take the signal from?
c) hdb property, taking signal from scv network or hdb antennae?

Describe the channels that you can and cannot receive, including picture quality.

Are you able to receive analogue channels with your soundtech?

Do note tv1, tv2, chans 5, 8 and 12(Suria) are in the vhf bands and the rest of sg fta channels, including digital, are in the uhf band. See page 4 of this IDA document for the channel allocations in sg >>http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/PCDG/Licensees/SpectrumMgmt/SpectrumNumMgmt/WhiteSpaceTP.pdf
 

kun1he2

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ic, thanks sunsetbay for the explaination. so i guess there is no way i can watch HD5 for free other than indoor antenna?

Yeap... And ymmv with indoor antenna depending on signal quality at your location.
 

jayz_sg

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jayz_sg

Need to have a better picture of what you have now for your tv signal feed before we can talk about the mixer. Are you in one of the following situations?

a) landed property with own set of tv antennae?
b) private condo with only scv outlets or both scv and matv (master tv system with roof top antennae). If you have both, where do you take the signal from?
c) hdb property, taking signal from scv network or hdb antennae?

Describe the channels that you can and cannot receive, including picture quality.

Are you able to receive analogue channels with your soundtech?

Do note tv1, tv2, chans 5, 8 and 12(Suria) are in the vhf bands and the rest of sg fta channels, including digital, are in the uhf band. See page 4 of this IDA document for the channel allocations in sg >>http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/PCDG/Licensees/SpectrumMgmt/SpectrumNumMgmt/WhiteSpaceTP.pdf

Hi,

I am in a HDB flat. Using the point from SCV cable point, mine is a new block so no HDB antenna. I also have use the soundtech antenna to receive digital channels. So when i want to watch CH 5, CH 8, CNA or HD5 I plug in the soundtech antenna. If I want to watch channel U, suria, okto or vasantham I will plug in the starhub cable.

For the digital channels, I can get 100% at all times I found a point at my window which has excellent signal reception.

For analog channels, since I use the starhub point I can get good signal as well.

If I use the soundtech for analog channel, I get really bad picture quality.

I know one way would be to use the A/B switch but ever since I got the digital channel I do a lot of recording and if i forget to switch the point the scheduled program will not be recorded.

Is there a way to setup both the starhub and soundtech antenna so that I can receive digital channels from the soundtech and analog channels from the starhub cable?

Thanks.
 

Kiwi8

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Just to let u all know, I once bought a signal combiner as below, hoping to combine the signals from the StarHub antenna point and the aerial antenna.

8HJ3k.jpg


In the end I detected nothing from the output. If u are to buy a signal combiner, try to get one that doesn't have restrictions on the filtering of the inputs such as UHF or VHF, etc.
 

mrsun18

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@jayz_sg

Ok, now the picture is clearer for us to talk about using using mixer.

We will need a bi-directional splitter/mixer, available from amazon, that looks like this to combine the two signal sources (actually I believe a normal 2 way splitter will work just as well):
81mcBb1IJuL._AA1500_.jpg

From soundtech you feed the fta digital channels (hd5, dig5, dig 8 and digCNA) on Channels 29 and 38, plus very poor analogue signals, and 15 mysterious scrambled channels - the frequencis of which are unknown - to one input of the mixer.

The other input will come from the scv outlet which comprises the fta analogue channels, some of which have been shifted to different frequencies (CNA, U and octo), plus tv1, one free sports channel on 76.25 Mhz, and many starhub scrambled channels.
The question is whether starhub use Channels 29 and 38. If they don't then you will get clean output for these two channels from the mixer. The other question is whether the 15 unknown channels from sountech will clash with the fta analogue channels from scv output, when the two sources are combined.

I think the poor analogue signals from the soundtech will not be an issue.

Perhaps a kind starhub subscriber can help to answer the question on Channels 29 and 38. But I doubt anyone can clear the air over the 15 scrambled channels your soundtech receives.

So I think you can only know if it works after you have tried it out.

@Kiwi8

The above may partially explain why your setup didn't work. The other possibility is that, for example, chan 8 signal from starhub and the chan 8 signal from your own antenna may be out of phase - they travel by different paths - and cancel each other out.

If you are willing to give more info on what you did, I can try to figure out why it went wrong.
 

cscs3

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Tried that before. It does not work on digital channel for some reason.
 

Kiwi8

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@jayz_sg

Ok, now the picture is clearer for us to talk about using using mixer.

We will need a bi-directional splitter/mixer, available from amazon, that looks like this to combine the two signal sources (actually I believe a normal 2 way splitter will work just as well):
81mcBb1IJuL._AA1500_.jpg

From soundtech you feed the fta digital channels (hd5, dig5, dig 8 and digCNA) on Channels 29 and 38, plus very poor analogue signals, and 15 mysterious scrambled channels - the frequencis of which are unknown - to one input of the mixer.

The other input will come from the scv outlet which comprises the fta analogue channels, some of which have been shifted to different frequencies (CNA, U and octo), plus tv1, one free sports channel on 76.25 Mhz, and many starhub scrambled channels.
The question is whether starhub use Channels 29 and 38. If they don't then you will get clean output for these two channels from the mixer. The other question is whether the 15 unknown channels from sountech will clash with the fta analogue channels from scv output, when the two sources are combined.

I think the poor analogue signals from the soundtech will not be an issue.

Perhaps a kind starhub subscriber can help to answer the question on Channels 29 and 38. But I doubt anyone can clear the air over the 15 scrambled channels your soundtech receives.

So I think you can only know if it works after you have tried it out.

@Kiwi8

The above may partially explain why your setup didn't work. The other possibility is that, for example, chan 8 signal from starhub and the chan 8 signal from your own antenna may be out of phase - they travel by different paths - and cancel each other out.

If you are willing to give more info on what you did, I can try to figure out why it went wrong.
I have even tried to combine the signals using the standard StarHub-issued splitter but it doesn't work also.
 

mrsun18

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@Kiwi8 & cscs3

It is not unexpected that some DIYers were not able to achieve the desired outcome.

What I have done is to explain why it doesn't work if there is sufficient info provided. The most important principle I have demonstrated is that there must be no duplicate of channel frequencies from different input to the mixer. For example, if input A contains chan 8, then there should be no chan 8 signal from input B. Similarly if input B contains chan 38, then input A should not have chan 38 signal. There are other factors such as insertion loss etc.

The splitters/mixers are part of the standard accessories used in matv installations such as those in hdb and private condos. Cable distribution network such as starhub network provides hundreds of tv channels combined from different sources.

DIYers without the necessary technical knowledge, measuring instruments, and usually with minimal budget, will find it hard to achieve success.
 

Kiwi8

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@Kiwi8 & cscs3

It is not unexpected that some DIYers were not able to achieve the desired outcome.

What I have done is to explain why it doesn't work if there is sufficient info provided. The most important principle I have demonstrated is that there must be no duplicate of channel frequencies from different input to the mixer. For example, if input A contains chan 8, then there should be no chan 8 signal from input B. Similarly if input B contains chan 38, then input A should not have chan 38 signal. There are other factors such as insertion loss etc.

The splitters/mixers are part of the standard accessories used in matv installations such as those in hdb and private condos. Cable distribution network such as starhub network provides hundreds of tv channels combined from different sources.

DIYers without the necessary technical knowledge, measuring instruments, and usually with minimal budget, will find it hard to achieve success.

Which is why I prefer not to mix the signals for now.. I have a TV card that takes in input from the StarHub antenna point and another TV card that takes in input from the aerial antenna.
 

wolf24wolf

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I am having a weird situation with my TV reception. My house was resale one and I did all relaying of wiring including the SVC cable. The reception of Ch 8, Ch U, OKTO, CNA is grainy during evening hours. However it turns ok normally after 11pm. I suppose the antenna point is connected to SCV since I couldn't get TV2.

Anyone able to advise what is wrong and any solution? I do not intend to subscribe to SCV or MioTV, although I know that those STB will improve the reception.
 

mrsun18

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I am having a weird situation with my TV reception. My house was resale one and I did all relaying of wiring including the SVC cable. The reception of Ch 8, Ch U, OKTO, CNA is grainy during evening hours. However it turns ok normally after 11pm. I suppose the antenna point is connected to SCV since I couldn't get TV2.

Anyone able to advise what is wrong and any solution? I do not intend to subscribe to SCV or MioTV, although I know that those STB will improve the reception.
Based on the symptom you have described, starhub's equipment is unable to supply enough signal during the evening peak hours when more people are watching tv. Since you are connected to their network, you have to let them know of the situation. The fact that you have rewired (relay?) the cable complicates the matter. But since the problem is likely to be at their end, only they can settle it for you.

Edit: ask your neighbours who use scv points whether they face the same issue.
 
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wolf24wolf

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Based on the symptom you have described, starhub's equipment is unable to supply enough signal during the evening peak hours when more people are watching tv. Since you are connected to their network, you have to let them know of the situation. The fact that you have rewired (relay?) the cable complicates the matter. But since the problem is likely to be at their end, only they can settle it for you.

Edit: ask your neighbours who use scv points whether they face the same issue.

Thanks for the advise..

I suppose like what you said, my relaying of antenna cable will give an"excuse" for starhub to point finger back to me.. (of course, i haven't try, i never know)..

In the event if they are not providing a solution for me, will I be able to get a signal "booster" of something like that in the market for such type of connection? I saw something in SL tower where it requires power supply into a small signal amplifier, made in china. can those help?
 
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sunsetbay

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I am having a weird situation with my TV reception. My house was resale one and I did all relaying of wiring including the SVC cable. The reception of Ch 8, Ch U, OKTO, CNA is grainy during evening hours. However it turns ok normally after 11pm. I suppose the antenna point is connected to SCV since I couldn't get TV2.

Anyone able to advise what is wrong and any solution? I do not intend to subscribe to SCV or MioTV, although I know that those STB will improve the reception.

hv u tried using different RF cable~? :s11:
 
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